4 and a half

We recently took a parenting class where one of the topics was family traditions and rituals.  They talked about how making these traditions and rituals, no matter how small they are have a big impact on kids.  They form positive memories and strong family bonds.  One activity I always thought would be fun was to make a "Half Birthday Cake".  I think I celebrated my half birthday at school a few times because my actual birthday fell during summer vacation, and I wouldn't have been able to have a school celebration otherwise.  I always remember being aware of when I hit that halfway mark through the year.  I'd thought about doing the half birthday cake earlier on with our girls, but Emeline has a very high sensitivity to sugar, so cake after dinner usually invokes the most terrible pre-bed tantrums, so we try to avoid it most of the time.  

But today, was her half birthday, and I was feeling more generous.  I thought it would be a fun activity, and a memorable one, to let the girls decorate a half birthday cake, and pick any theme Emeline wanted.  No fuss, just a fun little cake to make during the day and eat after dinner.  Emeline was super excited about the idea, and asked for a pink Hello Kitty cake.  That was easy enough to pull off...I had a couple 6 inch rounds in the freezer, and I just make a quick buttercream transfer out of a Hello Kitty coloring page.  That's the perfect kind of picture for a buttercream transfer.  

The girls watched me make the frosting, and I frosted it up...

Then I let them go to town with sprinkles...

And finally, I plopped Hello Kitty on top, and voila!  A half birthday cake.

It was yummy and easy and fun to let go and make some fun memories.  Emeline is getting a little better at holding her sugar ;) and it was a good motivator to finish dinner.  

I also took some pictures of Emeline while the other girls napped to capture all of her four and a half-ness.

Here's what comes to mind about Emeline at four and a half....

She LOVES dress up.  She wants to change her clothes multiple times a day.  We are working on doing less of that to create less laundry, but I try to say yes when I can.

She can be super mature and sweet when she wants to be.  Her tantrums can be out of bounds, but they are much less often than in her toddler years.  I'm really enjoying sitting and talking with Emeline.  Now that she doesn't nap, she takes a quiet time, which usually ends before her sisters get up.  She comes to get me from my "nap", and we snuggle, talk, and then go have a snack together.  I really enjoy that special time with her.

She loves to help.  She started to actually be quite helpful at smaller tasks of making dinner and cleaning up.  I really need to give her more responsibility, because when I do, she meets it with ease.  It's hard to keep her challenged when I try to keep a safe and easy to manage environment for the little ones.  

She is so snuggly.  Emeline was my baby who never wanted to cuddle, and once she could move, all she wanted to do was get down and explore.  I love that now she likes to be close to us.

She is considerate of her friends.  She is a social butterfly.  In a class of any kind, she works the room, getting to know everyone and inviting people to playdates.  She invites friends to join her play at school.  

She loves her sisters.  She and Kate play together all the time, never seeming to tire of each other.  She loves Adele and wants to hold and play with her at any chance she gets.  She loves babies and is often asking when we are having another one.  LOL.  

We love our sweet Emeline.  Happy half birthday!

Women's retreat

Our church used to have annual womens retreats which have always been super refreshing to me. There hasn't been one in a couple years, due to having all church retreats instead, and I missed a couple because of babies and such. But this year, I decided to go, nursing baby and all. I don't think I would have gone with either of the other girls as babies because they always slept so poorly, but after Adele slept so well on our trip to LA, I figured this would be no problem. And having to only take care of one kid would be practically a vacation right?

Well, I'm sure you can tell where this is going...Adele had shots the Friday we left for the retreat. My bad, but she's never been fussy after shots before. Anyway, I drove my friend Angi to the retreat, and poor thing had to listen to Adele scream almost the whole way there. There was so much traffic, so it took maybe two hours? We were both a little fried by the time we arrived.

We grabbed dinner and went to the Friday night session. Poor Adele was losing it and ready for bed quick, so we were only there a few minutes before heading back to the room for bed. And then...poor tired Adele did not sleep til 10pm! She usually falls asleep with so little help that I didn't even know how to help her sleep. Needless to say, we were both very tired the next day.

I think Adele was behind on sleep from that first night that I spent all the retreat sessions (morning and evenings) trying to get her to sleep for naps or bedtime. So I was sad to miss most of the content of the retreat, and I wasn't refreshed as I'd hoped. 

But...I did get a few good things that weekend...a walk in the redwoods with a good friend, some good conversations, and lots of time to be alone while Adele slept. 

Here were some of my views...

Not sleeping during the Saturday morning session.

At least we were surrounded by beauty!

My sleeping sweetie.

iPhone photo dump

Dancing to Frozen songs with Lizzie.

A new haircut in front of our red door. I'm gonna miss that red door...

Soccer baby!

Adele wants to watch too!

Picture day for soccer! Stay tuned for the actual shots.

My inspiration for dining room decor.

Adele at the park.

More giant smiles.

Kate being cute with sun glasses at the doctors office.

Nine months

Nine months feels like a big milestone. More time on the outside than in and heading into that home stretch towards toddlerhood. My baby is leaving me, turning into a little kid right before my eyes. Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but as my third, and likely last, baby, I know what's coming, and the busyness of life with three is making time pass all too quickly. Adele has been my sweet baby amidst the craziness of toddlers, but she's now quickly turning into them.

This month Adele has really started to pull up and try to climb up everything. Paired with her uber fast army crawling she can really get around and get into things. She's pulling on and opening drawers, smashing her fingers, and pulling things down and out. It's probably accentuated by our recent move and lack of baby proofing the new place.

Adele is still super happy. I don't think I've seen such giant smiles on a baby. She wakes up so happy to see you. It's very sweet. She's starting to get excited about going places, bouncing and flapping in excitement if I take her out the door.

She is starting to have much more will, so now she gets frustrated if a toy gets taken from her or if we leave the room. She wants to be in the mix so much, and today she crawled up to the little table where her sisters were eating, acting like she wanted to sit up there too. It won't be long.

We love our little Adele. She's so happy and starting to show some spunk.

Here she grows!

 

One week, 6 lbs 15 oz (birth weight of 7 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long)

One month, 9 lbs 10.5 oz, 21.5 inches long

Two months, 11 lbs 9.75 oz, 22.5 inches long

Three months

Four months, 14 lbs 12 oz, 23.5 inches long

Five months

Six months, 18 lbs 9 oz, 26.5 inches long

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months, 20 lbs 12.75 oz, 28 inches long

Moved!

We moved! This might be a surprise for some of you who I haven't talked to in a while, so I'll share the story. It's kind of a cool story of how God led us to our new home.

A little background, Emeline is 4.5 and will register for kindergarten in January. She currently goes to a Spanish immersion preschool in SJ, and we live in SC. We have a passion for language and culture and have been hoping that she could continue in a Spanish immersion elementary program. There are lots of those around the Bay Area, but not in our school district. There are a couple of charter schools we could apply for, but also being out of the district for those, we would be third round pick in the lottery selection process. From what I hear there usually aren't spots left by that point. So the question was, do we move to a district that has a program, and hope we win the lottery, or do we stay in our little house we've put so much work in and try for the charter schools?

Through lots prayer and talks with Wes, we felt like moving would get us our best shot. So we prayed for an opportunity. We'd been looking at renting vs buying for a while. MV seemed ideal, but most expensive, so we were also looking north in RC. SJ was an option too, but we preferred to be closer to church if possible. Anyway, we talked to our realtor and though it is a great time to sell, it is not a great time to buy. We tried working through different scenarios, but God didn't seem to be opening any doors. So we focused on finding a rental, so we could move out, then finish the last things on our house to rent it. Everything we've seen has been so expensive and often not updated or well kept. It's been a very discouraging search. The rental market is so competitive you have to apply ASAP to get anything, so we even applied to a few places and got them, but didn't feel comfortable going thru with it. 

That brings us back to how we found this place. It was the day Wes left on a work trip to China. I was having lots of anxiety prepping to say goodbye to Wes. Before he left he prayed for me that I would know how much God loves me.

Later that day, I saw another rental listing, cheaper, bigger, and in the neighborhood we wanted. The dining area was painted a green color I loved, and I got excited. Green! Oh! That would be a pretty place to live. All of a sudden felt giddy like getting a present. Then, in the car driving to preschool, heard a worship song about Gods love for me. I actually believed it and soaked it in in the moment. I felt like the green kitchen was like hope. I have been feeling all this guilt about not accepting Gods gifts (different rental opportunities that have been offered to us, but that we've said no to), like its rude and I'm ungrateful.

But then I had the image of God more like a personal shopper. God saying, "Oh, you don't like this one? Ok, how about this? Green looks good on you. Tell me what you think. Let me go in the back and see what else I can find." That image made me feel special. As if God was taking me shopping for a present. I felt spoiled....in a good way, like getting pampered or something. I felt a big shift in my feelings and thoughts. I was just overwhelmed with God's love. No doubt I'll be anxious and stressed again, but I was so grateful for that shift and change of perspective.

My birthday was the next day. I expected to be sad because Wes was gone, and stressed about needing to get a foot X-ray. But I felt so much of God's love. I got cupcakes and flowers from friends and an awesome mothers ring from Wes.

I went to check out the "green" place the next day. I left the girls with a friend during a play date for the open house.  It really was great, open, bright, spacious. Not a huge yard, but will fit our stuff and give the girls play space. It's a block from a great big park, and walking distance to a few friends.

I went ahead and applied, and we got it! The leasing agent said we were the top choice of 6 applicants. When the leasing agent came by, I chatted with him a bunch and he knows the owners from a church that's across the street from apple. The owner is in children's ministries there. Sounds like a nice family to rent from. I told him how I really felt like a God led us there, and it is such a great place.

We still feel that it's a bummer to rent again, rather than be able to buy and settle in, but we feel like we've really knocked on the door of buying, and it did not open, at least not easily. And we've been offered so many rentals, that feels like an open door. Then having that image of "shopping" with God and experiencing His love and generosity, gives me such peace about it.

I did of course feel super stressed about the logistics of moving, but not about the place. This not only seems to make sense in terms of our financial options and goals, but I really feel God's presence in the process. I am honestly so amazed at how God has answered my prayer to give us the opportunity to move to a school district with a Spanish immersion program, to provide us a home that will fit our family, and how He really gave me this image and sense of His love in such a new way.

That brings us to now. We moved! 

This time around, we hired movers. They packed and moved everything. I don't think I could do it with three littles otherwise...and keep my sanity. Here are the boxes!

And here's the truck loading everything up. Wes stayed behind to manage, and I took the kids to soccer and Aunt Diane's for the day. I'm glad I didn't have to watch. It was hard to say goodbye to our sweet little house and nice neighborhood.

And here we are starting our adventure in MV! Not much to look at from the street, our unit is in the back.

We are taking a leap! Lots left to do, but were doing it. Now we need more prayers for settling in, getting the house ready to rent, finding renters, and then of course that Emeline can win the lottery and actually get to go to the Spanish immersion program :).

First soccer game

We had so much fun at Emeline's first soccer game today. She's playing on a francophone soccer league through the city of Sunnyvale. Our friends Karen and JR invited us to join even though we don't speak French. It was such a fun morning watching the girls play hard and score a few goals. Kate cheered for her sister too! And JR is such and awesome coach. He's really gifted and teaching soccer while encouraging the girls to play and have fun. Being a soccer mom is fun! Go pink unicorns!

Journey to Papa (aka visiting Grandma Diane)

So I did something a little crazy. Well, crazy for me at least. I drove all three girls, by myself down to the LA area. That totaled about 6 hours of driving, which probably took us about 9 hours total. Now before you commit me, let me tell you why...

At the beginning of the summer, I was still in survival mode adjusting to life with 3, just coming out of newborn land. The thought of a summer vacation with 3 kids was the last thing I wanted to do. By the end of the summer I was feeling quite stir crazy, and the camping trip we had planned for September got cancelled due to the drought. So nearing the end of August, I decided I really needed a vacation, or as I now like to call family vacations, a business trip. We started brain storming ideas and we decided to go visit my grandma Diane.  The last two trips to her house were for funerals, so we thought we'd go take the girls and do the fun things I remembered doing at grandma's house.

Enter Wes' work trip to China. The trip got scheduled at the last minute, right over the time we planned to go, and over my birthday, I might add. Then the trip slowly, but surely, got extended. Finally Wes had a return date fixed, which would put him arriving home the Friday night before Labor Day weekend. Labor Day weekend was the last hope of taking a vacation before our lives got really busy in September. Then Wes told me his flight was routed to LA and he joked that I could drive down and meet him there, so we'd have one more full day with grandma. I just laughed. He was gone for a week and a half, and then he wanted me to pack for our vacation and drive them for 6+ hours by myself?

We got off the phone, and then I began to think. If I wait for him to go, we will only have a couple days before we have to drive in the car again. And what will I be doing at home on that Friday if I stay? Taking care of the kids by myself. Maybe it was the loopy exahaistion talking, or the hope of seeing Wes on the other end, but strapping them all into the car, stuffing them full of snacks, watching a million movies started to seem like a fine idea. I asked my aunt and a friend if I was crazy and they both said no, and encouraged me to do it. So I did!

Heidi was gracious enough to watch the kids a few hours the day before so I could pack while Adele napped. So I packed and prepped. Bringing clothes for 5 and all the necessary baby gear is no joke.

Bright and early Friday morning, I packed the car while the girls ate breakfast and watched cartoons. They are gonna watch tv all day, why not start now right? Then I loaded up and off we went. Well, first the engine light showed up telling me the tires were low, so after I dealt with that, just a 40 min delay...then we were off.

I chronicled my trip on Facebook so I could get moral support, here's what I posted...

For the grand finale of my week of solo parenting ( or should I say village of family and friends parenting) we are road tripping it down to LA to meet Wes and visit great grandma. Here we go!

Potty stop one done! Only mild misbehavior. Back on the road!

One of my favorite views of all time. Too bad this highway is a parking lot.

Lunch break...getting a little chaotic...but hanging in there! (Note: chaotic was an understatement, ask me if you want the gory details. But it was bad enough for me to seriously doubt this whole venture. What was I thinking?!)

Pit stop #3. The girls are fading. So am I. Too many flies at this rest stop. Time for a diet coke...can't stop now!

Stop #4. A quick one, but just enough time to put hands in your pockets. Still 100 miles to go :(

Gassing up....Adele is melting down. Poor thing is not entertained by movies and snacks like her sisters who've hardly napped. Just heard Wes has landed! Family will be reunited soon. Now to face LA rush hour....

Reunited! And mama is ready to collapse. Let the vacation begin!

We did all sorts of fun things at Great Grandma's house....

Lots of cuddles. Here are Emeline and her great grandma in HER great grandmas rocking chair.

Fun at the pier, including ice cream..

Watching the ocean.

Riding some rides.

Emetine and Kate wore their matching dresses to church that papa brought back from China.

Kate walked the labyrinth.

Emeline sang with grandma.

Adele and I made funny faces in the mirror.

And she was as cute as ever in the bath.

One afternoon, Kate was so zonked after a day at the beach, she napped super long and I had to wake her up. But not before I took some sweet photos.

More fun at the pier! Churros!

We ate dinners outside and afterward, Adele enjoyed the grass.

We ran into Loretta (a good friend of my mom) on a walk and then she came by to deliver a baby blanket for Adele. She's made one for all the girls.

After 3 days visiting, it was time to say goodbye and start the journey home. Here's our best effort at pics with great grandma before we left.

Let's just say, driving all day is MUCH better with Wes. The big girls napped.

Adele had a lot more fun at rest stops without having to be stuck in the ergo.

Road trips are way better with papa!

Well, I don't think I'd do the drive again solo if I had the choice, but it sure was worth it to have an extra day of vacation!